CFS 0.5.0 Stable

CFS 0.5.0 Stable release notes

CFS 0.5.0 Stable replaces the legacy application-first workflow with
Explorer-first archive creation, browsing, editing, extraction, and recovery.

Explorer-first archive creation

• Create a .cfs archive from one folder or regular files selected from one
  directory through Compress to CFS. Mixed selections and special file
  system objects are rejected with an explanation.
• The command client owns the Save dialog, naming, compression preference,
  progress, cancellation, destination confirmation, and reveal-after-success
  workflow. Create or open archives without opening or depending on Cfs.App;
  Explorer does not load archive code. Create empty CFS archive here uses
  the production create-empty path.
• Double-clicking an archive opens its ProjFS workspace. Repeated opens reuse
  its writable session instead of creating competing writers.
• Windows 11 receives a primary compression action, a compact CFS archive
  submenu, and classic Show more options fallbacks.
• The in-process extension is limited to receiving selections, starting the
  command client, and reading the bounded broker status snapshot. Dirty and
  recovery-required archive or mount roots can receive a nonblocking status
  overlay; Explorer never waits on broker IPC for that status.

Safer persistence and recovery

• Ordinary mounted edits are automatically saved after a quiet period, while
  explicit commit, discard, close, and recovery actions retain distinct
  behavior.
• CFS preserves unchanged compressed blocks during projected saves. Clean
  ProjFS entries reuse their committed blocks; changed entries are read through
  the provider with sharing checks so partially written files are not committed.
• CFS keeps a validated same-volume predecessor until a candidate has been
  validated, atomically promoted, reopened, and validated again.
• External archive identity changes, write conflicts, disk-space failures, and
  interrupted commits preserve pending state rather than silently overwriting
  data. Recovery remains explicit: recover, discard, inspect the location, or
  cancel.
• CFS1 remains supported. CFS2 provides independently checksummed 64 MiB LZMA2
  chunks when a streamed large entry requires it.

Safety and compatibility

• Writable sessions are limited to local NTFS. Mark-of-the-Web archives and
  corrupted archives do not mount writable; read-only extraction remains an
  explicit fallback.
• The Stable package is designed to use the exact CFS RSA-3072 self-signed
  leaf certificate, RFC 3161 timestamping, signer/hash inventory, a public
  certificate, update manifest, SBOM, and checksums.
• Windows can still display Unknown Publisher or SmartScreen before a user
  explicitly trusts the exact CFS publisher certificate. CFS never installs a
  general root certificate authority.
• Optional failure reporting sends only sanitized structured diagnostic data
  when a configured reporting endpoint is available. It can be disabled or its
  installation identifier reset from Settings.

Requirements and known boundaries

• Target: Windows 11 x64, local NTFS, with Projected File System enabled.
• CFS archives are not encrypted. Use Windows access controls and independent
  backups where confidentiality or disaster recovery matters.
• Keep an independent backup of important files. CFS's retained previous
  version protects the most recent transaction boundary but is not a substitute
  for a separate backup.

Copyright © 2026 Neeraj Pragnya Krishna Vasagiri. All rights reserved.

CFS 0.4.0 Beta - Withdrawn

CFS 0.4.0 Beta - Withdrawn

Withdrawn on July 29, 2026 because of known bugs. Do not use this release for important archives.

The public installer and other downloadable assets have been removed. Use CFS 0.5.0 Stable instead.

Historical metadata, exact asset hashes, and private backup copies were retained before withdrawal.

CFS 0.3.1 Beta - Withdrawn

CFS 0.3.1 Beta - Withdrawn

Withdrawn on July 29, 2026 because of known bugs. Do not use this release for important archives.

The public installer and other downloadable assets have been removed. Use CFS 0.5.0 Stable instead.

Historical metadata, exact asset hashes, and private backup copies were retained before withdrawal.

CFS 0.3.0 Beta - Withdrawn

CFS 0.3.0 Beta - Withdrawn

Withdrawn on July 29, 2026 because of known bugs. Do not use this release for important archives.

The public installer and other downloadable assets have been removed. Use CFS 0.5.0 Stable instead.

Historical metadata, exact asset hashes, and private backup copies were retained before withdrawal.

CFS 0.2.0 Beta - Withdrawn

CFS 0.2.0 Beta - Withdrawn

Withdrawn on July 29, 2026 because of known bugs. Do not use this release for important archives.

The public installer and other downloadable assets have been removed. Use CFS 0.5.0 Stable instead.

Historical metadata, exact asset hashes, and private backup copies were retained before withdrawal.

CFS 0.1.0 Beta - Withdrawn

CFS 0.1.0 Beta - Withdrawn

Withdrawn on July 29, 2026 because of known bugs. Do not use this release for important archives.

The public installer and other downloadable assets have been removed. Use CFS 0.5.0 Stable instead.

Historical metadata, exact asset hashes, and private backup copies were retained before withdrawal.